I don’t know about you, but I LOVE going to other countries in books. It’s fun to read about the ones I want to visit and re-visit the ones I’ve been to. In a couple months we’ll be talking about books that awaken the travel bug in us, so I’m being very selective and not including books with strong travel themes so I can share those then. I’m hoping that this week’s topic will expand my TBR like crazy. I can’t wait to see where books have taken you!

Starry Nights by Daisy Whitney (France)
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (France)
The Conspiracy of Us by Maggie Hall (France to Turkey)

Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco (Romania)
Heist Society by Ally Carter (Italy, Austria, Poland, France, England)
Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor (Czech Republic)

From What I Remember… by Stacy Kramer & Val Thomas (Mexico)
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (Thisby)
(I’m cheating with this one since Thisby doesn’t exist, but the author said that she pictured it as being a place like Ireland or Scotland, and it definitely feels like it!)
Stolen: A Letter to My Captor by Lucy Christopher (Australia)
Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas (Aruba)

Which countries have you enjoyed visiting through books? I want a ton of recommendations, so I’m going to do my best to visit all of you. But if there’s something you REALLY love, can you tell me in the comments so I definitely don’t miss it?

 

If you live on the other side of the world, please tell us what’s on your Fall to-be-read list this year. :)

Happy first day of spring! I love the green and the flowers and the bird songs that spring brings, so I’m excited even though I love cold weather and snow. This week’s topic encourages you to look ahead and see what you’re excited to read this season.

Do you feel like you tend to read certain kinds of books during this time of year? I definitely feel like the seasons influence the books I pick. I tend to gravitate towards contemporary romance and light women’s fiction. But I’m such a mood reader. lol. I always struggled with these seasonal TBRs when we did them at The Broke and the Bookish, but they were so popular that I knew I couldn’t get rid of them when I took over. So… Here’s my list of books that I want to read soon, but who knows if I really will?

 

By the Book by Julia Sonneborn
The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory
Freshmen by Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison
When Joss Met Matt by Ellie Cahill

 

The Distance from Me to You by Marina Gessner
There You’ll Find Me by Jenny B. Jones
By Your Side by Kasie West
A Field Guide for Heartbreakers by Kristen Tracy

 

Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett
The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare

Have you read any of these yet? What did you think?
What’s on your spring TBR?

Today’s topic is the top ten books that surprised you, in either a good or a bad way. Is there a book you thought you’d love, but ended up hating? Was there a book you thought you’d hate but really loved? Major plot twist? Main character ends up with someone you weren’t expecting? Were you expecting a certain something from a certain author and they went completely rogue?

This topic is kind of similar to the “Books I Can’t Believe I Read” topic we did a few weeks ago. At least, that’s how my mind is thinking about this, so I’m forcing myself to spin this topic enough so that I don’t have too many duplicates. My spin is entitled:

Ten Books I Was Surprised Impacted Me the Way They Did
(This is kind of hilarious title, I know…)

Ok, let me explain. I’ve read a lot of books over the course of my life that caused extreme reactions from me, both good and bad. I’ve been scarred by some books, and I’ve also been uplifted and changed by some books. My list today showcases the books that have popped up in my mind for one reason or another over the years, and have impacted me in long-lasting ways I wasn’t expecting. There will most likely be some spoilers in this list, so if you see a book cover of a book you were hoping to read and don’t want to be spoiled, just skip past the words below it and on to the next cover. :) Then you’ll be safe.

 

1. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Ok, so this is an extreme negative reaction kind of book. I read this in middle school, and it shook me to my core for one reason and has stuck with me ever since. If you’ve read it, I’m sure you remember what George did the Lennie. I was blindsided and really upset by this.

 

2. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
Here’s another bad book for me. A beloved pet dies in this book, in a very graphic way. The author pretty much spares no details, and readers read every gruesome detail. It killed me. My 4th grade teacher read this in class, and 21 years later I am still scarred by it. If I find out an animal dies in a book, I blacklist it no matter how great the rest of the book might be. It’s a 100% deal breaker for me.

 

3. Night by Eli Wiesel
I tend to really struggle with Holocaust books because it kills me to read about humans doing such awful things to humans. Like, how is the Holocaust a thing that actually happened and not a horror novel that is too bad to be true? I read this in undergrad for my Ethics and Values class, and I was pretty worried it would destroy me. And it is soooo sad, yes. But it’s written in a way that made me hopeful and uplifted. I was super surprised to find such a heartbreaking book that could lift me up at the same time. I really enjoyed Night, and it has stuck with me for years.

 

4. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
I had no idea that this book would be the book that made me discover the magical world of YA and fall in love with reading again… at age 18, no less (New Moon had just been released… so that shows my age a little. lol). A romance with sparkly vampires pretty much changed my life. I’ll be forever grateful for it.

 

5. The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks
I loved this book until it crushed me. It also made me swear off all Nicholas Sparks books until the end of time. AND it made me realize I need to be better about making sure no animal die in books. IT WAS NICHOLAS SPARKS. What was I thinking!? I should have known… Whatever is pictured on one of his covers… at least 50% of it will die.

 

6. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Every time I hear this title or see this book, a feeling of darkness washes over me. I read this as a child in school, and I was a very very tender and sensitive child. The violence and destruction in this book caused feelings in me that I can still feel if I’m in the right situation.

(Intermission message: I’m quickly being reminded that school stole my love of reading and kind of traumatized me. lol.)

 

7. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
It has been a LONG time since I’ve read a book that has made me THIS MAD. lol. I was very surprised by the extreme rage it drew from me. And honestly, I knew going in that it would make me mad, but my professor in library school made me read it. It did nothing good for me. lol. For more of my thoughts, read my review.

 

8. Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard
This book taught me that books can truly change your life. I mean, I suppose I knew this already. lol. What bookworm doesn’t know this? But Wanderlove reallllly did for me. And this is the first book I ever bought a hardback of after reading an egalley because I wanted to own a finished copy for my collection.

 

9. On the Island by Tracey Garvis-Graves
I feel like this book pops up a lot on my TTT lists because it was so groundbreaking for me. First off, it changed my mind about self-published books (I used to never give them a chance, but then this gem found me… and yeah, On the Island was self-pubbed before Penguin got it). I’d heard so many horror stories of bloggers being harassed by self-published authors, not to mention I’d rarely read a good review for self-published books. I started to see a red flag every time I saw that a book was self-published because I was either convinced it would be a bad read or that I’d get harassed for my inevitably unfavorable review. I know, this is a bad thing to think. lol. Luckily this book changed my mind and I’ve since read a ton of really amazing self-published books I never would have given a second look before. On the Island also changed my mind about age gaps in relationships, and it made me really fall in love with survival-type story lines. I had no idea going in to this book that I would love it soooo much, much less finish it.

 

10. Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch
Ok, so this is my most recent love (and a new favorite book), and I still can’t stop thinking about how much I loved it!! I thought I was kind of done with contemporary YA because nothing had been working for me in a few years (much to my dismay). But I have a major soft spot for Italy books. I mean, it’s Italy. I thought I’d be able to suffer through it at the very least. I was seriously surprised that Jenna Evans Welch was able convince me that there’s still something for me in YA contemporary lit. But she did, and I’ve fallen in love with the genre all over again!

Which books have surprised you?

So we first did this topic on The Broke and the Bookish back in 2013. Check out my favorite quotes back then! I still love all of those quotes, but today I get to share 10 more that I love! I’m excited to see yours!

1. “Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”
― Neil Gaiman, Coraline

2. “…she made her home in between the pages of books.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Linger

3. “If I have learned anything in this long life of mine, it is this: in love we find out who we want to be; in war we find out who we are.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

4. “There are good days and hard days for me—even now. Don’t let the hard days win.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

5. “I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

6. “If only there could be an invention that bottled up a memory, like scent. And it never faded, and it never got stale. And then, when one wanted it, the bottle could be uncorked, and it would be like living the moment all over again.”
― Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca

7. “Even in that time of utter darkness, somewhere deep inside me the memory of love and goodness had stayed alive.”
― Juliet Marillier, Heart’s Blood

8. “As mothers and daughters, we are connected with one another. My mother is the bones of my spine, keeping me straight and true. She is my blood, making sure it runs rich and strong. She is the beating of my heart. I cannot now imagine a life without her.”
― Kristin Hannah, Summer Island

9. “Stories are lights. Light is precious in a world so dark.”
– Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

10. “When the paintings come out for you, it’s what people have meant all along when they talk about artists being immortal. In a way, their work can live forever. When the art comes alive it’s like the immortal version of the painting, like a little bit of the person painted has gotten to live forever.”
– Daisy Whitney, Starry Nights

I’m not one to re-read many books because I have SO many books to read that I find I have a hard time justifying re-reading. I have many books that I absolutely love, though, and would be happy to read again and again if I had the chance. I’m also thinking that these are probably the 10 books I would choose to take with me to a deserted island, or they are the 10 books I would choose to hide if we had a Fahrenheit 451 situation… the books I’d steal if I were The Book Thief. You get the idea! And of course there’s romantic elements in all them because I’m Jana.

 

1. The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
Swoony, hilarious office place romance.

2. On the Island by Tracey Garvis-Graves
Exciting, enthralling, forbidden romance between two people stranded on a deserted island.

3. Just One Day by Gayle Forman
Whirlwind romance that happen in Paris, in one day.

4. Wish You Were Italian by Kristin Rae
Girl ditches art program to travel solo in Italy, continually running into swoony guy.

5. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
Rhysand. Enough said.

6. Say Yes to the Marquess by Tessa Dare
The perfect historical romance with tons of amazing banter and a really swoony scene involving cake.

7. The Summer I Became a Nerd by Leah Rae Miller
Popular girl embraces her inner nerd one summer, falls for the comic book boy, and never turns back.

8. Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco
Sexy, swoony, dangerous, dark, and truly captivating.

9. Love, Lucy by April Lindner
Girl backpacking through Florence, Italy falls in love with the street musician as well as the country.

10. Starry Night by Debbie Macomber
Christmas love story that takes place under the Northern Lights in the Alaskan bush with a reclusive, husky, cold teddy bear of a man and his really huge, really lovable dog.

 

Which books could you reread forever?